What Cousins Do
by NerdofSpades
Summary: The Fentons traveled down to southern California to meet up with their distant relatives, the Lakes. Danny and Jim notice some odd similarities and can't really help sticking their nose in each other's business. Danny mostly, seeing as Jim is a little too busy for that.
1. Chapter 1

Dinner had been… interesting. And informative. Okay, less informative. Jim knew Danny had been watching him as much as he had watched Danny. Especially after hearing the way their parents talked about them. Sure, the Fentons noticed more bruises and less lying than his mom did, but the general idea was the same. Both of them were refusing to talk to their parents and staying out late. At least Jim could say he'd managed to keep his academics on track… most of the time. Assignments tended to be a little harder to get done on time, but Jim managed.

"Hey," Danny said, poking his head through the door, "your mom said we could share your room tonight."

Jim suppressed a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at his distant cousin. "Why aren't you sleeping in the… RV?"

Danny laughed, an easy smile pulling at his lips. "My parents are taking the RV, and with the way my dad snores, I don't want to be anywhere near that. And Jazz already claimed the couch."

This time Jim did sigh as he turned back to his window and lifted the radio to his mouth. "Change of plans, Tobes. I'm staying in tonight. I've got family over."

The radio crackled slightly, and Toby's voice filled the room. "Family?" he said. "I thought it was just you and your mom."

"So did I," Jim responded. "Apparently we've got a few distant relatives that decided to visit."

"Hey, man," Danny said as he unrolled his sleeping bag and bedroll on the floor, "don't let me hold you back. Go. I won't tell anyone."

"Danny," Jim gave him a level look. "We both know you'll follow me if I leave. Whatever it is you get up to back in Amity Park, I don't want you involved in my messes."

Danny shrugged. "I'll stay here. It's not any of my business. Go have fun. Anyway, I want to keep my nose clean on this trip. I've at least got a chance this time."

Jim cocked his head to the side as he observed his cousin. Danny had sounded almost bitter, and Jim was certain he wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Maybe they were more alike than he had thought.

He glanced back out the window where he saw Toby watching him from across the cul-de-sac. He really should go. People needed him, but could he really count on Danny to stay out of this?

"I have your word you'll stay here? I'm not gonna see you out on the streets trying to figure out what I've gotten myself into?"

Danny smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Go."

Jim turned back to Toby and lifted the radio again. "We're a go again. Danny's not gonna rat me out."

"Awesomesauce!" Toby cheered, doing a little dance that Jim could see through the windows. "Tell him we owe him a big one."

"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, rolling his eyes. "I'll see you there." Jim put down the radio and began packing up his bag, making sure he had everything he needed. Jim glanced over at Danny one last time as he slid the window open. "Really, Danny, stay here."

Danny glanced over at him and waved his hand dismissively. "I heard you. I'm not going anywhere."

Jim nodded and crawled through the window, closing it behind him before carefully crawling to the edge of the roof and climbing down the pillar to the porch and then grabbing his bike from where he'd stashed it outside the garage. He would have to move quickly if he wanted to catch up. He knew Toby would have gone ahead once he heard Jim was on his way.

* * *

Danny stared at the ceiling, wondering what Jim could have gotten into that would make him so paranoid about being followed, especially after what they heard at dinner. He knew Jim picked up on the similarities as much as he had. It was concerning. What if he was involved in some kind of gang? No, this wasn't the area for that. But that didn't mean it couldn't be illegal or dangerous.

Danny groaned and ran his hands down his face. With one last sigh he sat upright and pulled himself out of his sleeping bag. He had to go find him. He couldn't just sit back while his cousin got himself into trouble. He was all his mom had when it came down to it. Sure, she had the Fentons now, too, but they'd only just met. She hadn't seen his mom since they were teens themselves.

Danny moved to change out of his pajamas and into day clothes when he paused. Why was he going to change his clothes? He could just change forms and search that way. Heck, he could even search from the air invisibly. That way, Jim would never see him at all, and he was guaranteed not to see Danny Fenton. Danny smiled to himself and felt the cold wash over his body, almost enough to turn his blood to ice in his veins, before it, and the light that always came with it, faded slightly and left him as Danny Phantom. He felt gravity begin to lose its hold on him and his feet slowly lost contact with the floor. Danny slid from the visible spectrum and out of phase with the physical world as he passed through the wall and out into the sky. Danny became solid once more as he glanced around, trying to decide which way to go. Taking a guess, he went towards the concentration of street lights that he knew was downtown.

Danny flew for a long time, quickly adopting a grid pattern as he looked for anything that could lead him to his cousin. Finally, he found something at the edge of town. A massive figure made its way out of the forest. Danny hesitated. It definitely wasn't his cousin, not with those shoulders, that height, those muscles, and… those horns? Danny stayed invisible as he swooped lower for a closer look.

The figure was massive. Probably well over seven feet tall if he included the horns. He, and Danny was pretty sure it was a he, had spikes all along his back and running down parts of his arms. He didn't wear a shirt, but at least was wearing something to cover his lower half, but the lack of clothes gave Danny a clear look at the scars that marred his arms and chest. And the fact that it was actually arm and the other was replaced by a metal prosthetic. His nose was… large and flat with a nose ring and went from the center of his face to the middle of his nonexistent forehead. No, really, his brow went right up to the horns. He didn't have a forehead.

And his eyes were glowing blue. Which meant he was being possessed, but Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off.

"I don't know who you are, or who he is, but you need to let him go," Danny said firmly as he floated back up above the creature.

He stopped and looked around. After a moment of looking, he snorted in frustration and spoke. "Show yourself, coward, and I shall introduce you to his fists," he said. It was far from the most creative threat Danny had ever heard, but it got the point across. But why hadn't he seen him? Oh, right.

Danny dropped back into the visible range. "Up here. And you're one to talk about cowardice, taking this body. I don't know how you're hiding your ectosignature from me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you."

"Ha!" he laughed as he caught sight of Danny. "You will go easy on me? I am Gunmar the Black, Dark Underlord. I have fought in countless battles and taken countless lives. What's a little runt like you going to do to me?"

"Hey!" Danny sulked. "I haven't finished growing yet!"

"Let me rephrase then," his lips pulled up in a cruel smile. "What's a whelp like you going to do to me?"

Danny didn't know what to say to that, so he just fired and ectoblast at him instead. "I'm going to get you out of him one way or another," he said, dropping his altitude to fly at the creature. "Whose body have you taken anyway?"

Gunmar laughed as he allowed the ectoblast to strike the good arm, then grunted in pain. He snarled in anger and swung a fist at Danny. Danny dodged out of the way. "This," Gunmar said as Danny darted away again, "is the body of Draal the Deadly, Protector of Jim Lake, and Son of the former Trollhunter, Kanjigar."

Danny almost froze up. This thing protected his cousin? Guess he had an idea as to what his cousin got up to in his spare time then. Sort. Kinda. Not really. Okay, this told him pretty much nothing. Some delusional ghost with the ability to hide himself from Danny's ghost sense was interested in fighting his cousin and had taken the body of some… thing-person that protected Jim.

"Well, then," Danny yelled, lighting up a fist with ectoenergy again, "guess I'm just going to have to fight that much harder to get you out!"

This time Gunmar dodged the blast and let it go flying into the trees. "You're going to have to try harder than that. Nothing can break my hold over him!"

Danny rushed forward again, sliding out of the physical world as Gunmar reached out the grab him.

"Wha-!?" Gunmar yelled as Danny released his cold core and froze Draal's legs to the ground. "What are you!?" he continued. "What is this!?"

Danny floated back above him. "Good luck breaking that!" he called down. "Now, do you want to let him go peacefully, or do I need to come down there myself."

Gunmar laughed. The ice cracked and shattered. "That won't hold me. Now, answer me creature. What are you?"

Danny gulped. He didn't think he had the strength to go against this guy head on. He had to be smart about this. Too bad he was a C average student.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Both Gunmar and Danny froze and turned to face the battle cry coming from the trees. A group of people burst from the underbrush, screaming as they charged Gunmar. One was large, about as large as Draal, and grey and had small horns and green hair like stuff forming a mane around his head, chest and back. One was the kid from across the street, Toby, Jim had called him, with an orange glowing warhammer. Another was a thin human girl with short black hair, a multitude of barrettes, and some kind of staff with a pronged end. The last was Jim. He wore bright silvery armor that glowed faintly and carried a sword to match. The four quickly circled Gunmar and began striking, one after another.

Watching them fight, Danny was amazed. When he had set out to find his cousin, he had assumed the worst. Maybe he had Toby watching his back, but Danny had assumed he'd be alone and doing something undeniably stupid, but here he was, with allies beside him, doing exactly what Danny did on a regular basis. Protecting.

"Get him down!" Jim yelled. "We want to capture him, not kill him!"

"Ha! You will never win fighting like that Trollhunter. If I didn't want to kill you with my own two hands I would do it now. I'll have to settle for the other whelps."

"Leave them alone, Gunmar! And let Draal go!"

"You should have a grudge against all of us!" Toby yelled as he swung at Draal's legs.

"Yeah," the girl agreed as she launched over him, taking the prosthetic arm off, "we all played our part!"

"Trollhunters!" the large grey creature shouted in a deep rumbling voice. "Not Trollhunter!"

"That may be so, but I will take someone today. You have no hope of breaking my hold over him."

Danny broke out of his stupor and released a whoop as he dived towards Draal's body, phasing into it.

* * *

 **Hope you liked the first chapter, guys!**

 **This fic will be updating every other Wednesday.**

 **NoS**


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the flying person wearing some kind of black jump suit flew into Draal, and Jim truly meant _into_ , and disappeared, Draal's body began spasming and releasing grunts and cries of pain. The large, blue, stone body dropped to the ground and twitched.

"I told you… I'd get you out… one way or another," Draal's mouth said in a voice that was neither his not Gunmar's as Draal's eyes began to flicker between glowing blue and green.

"What! No! This can't be…! What's happening!?" Gunmar's voice ground out.

"What the heck?" Toby whispered as the Trollhunter's gathered together, watching the horrifying display.

"I don't know," Jim whispered back, glancing at his friends. They were all just as on edge and ready to fight as he was.

Suddenly, Draal's body went limp and the younger voice groaned and blinked Draal's eyes open. They were glowing green now, but instead of being one solid color, they had green irises and looked otherwise normal. The body began pushing itself up, only to lose balance with a small yelp and fall back to the ground. "Ugh," he said, "having only one arm is weird." He propped himself up again and looked over at the gathered group that was starting to edge forward. "Hey, you guys are this guy's friends, right?"

The hesitated. "Yeah?" Jim answered. "What about it?"

"I was just going to ask you to help me prop him up somewhere. I'm a bit uncoordinated in this body and I don't know how conscious he's going to be when I leave."

Oh. Okay. Jim glanced over at Aaarrrgghh who nodded down at him and lumbered forward cautiously. He edged around Draal's body and wrapped his arms around the younger troll's shoulders protectively. "Ready," he said.

Draal's head nodded, and then his body slumped forward, and his eyes closed as the small human figure floated out of him and began hovering above all of them.

"Gah, where? What?" Draal began groaning as he blinked at his surroundings, eyes a completely normal yellow that didn't glow. "Trollhunter?" he asked as he caught sight of Jim. He started to sit up straighter, wincing as he jostled old untreated injuries. "Gunmar escaped. He is in-"

"We know Draal," Jim said as he stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Draal's good arm. Toby suddenly darted off to retrieve the prosthetic that was laying in the grass. "It's been a while since then. Gunmar brainwashed you with the Decimaar Blade."

"How? How long has it been? How did you free me? That shouldn't be possible. What happened? Is everyone okay?" Draal's questions grew more and more frantic as he went, his mind creating scenario after scenario, each worse than the last. "Where's Blinky? Please tell me I didn't hurt him."

"Blinky's fine," Claire said, kneel next to Draal. "He's just busy right now."

Toby ran back over to the group, lugging the large arm behind him. "Here you go, Draal. Once we get your arm back on and you get your feet back under you we can head back and tell the others you're safe."

Draal stared at him and the arm for a moment. "Thank you," he said, carefully grabbing his arm and beginning to reattach it, securing it in place and testing its mobility. "But how did you save me? How did you break me free from Gunmar's control? That's supposed to be impossible."

"Ah, that would be me," a voice drifted down from above them. They all looked up at the probably teenager. "Danny Phantom, at your service." Phantom floated down, so he was only slightly above them, feet never touching the ground.

"Who? What?"

"Aren't you the ghost the Fentons were talking about?" Jim asked.

Danny froze for a second. How should he play this? "Yeah," he said, "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton and I… don't really get along."

"That's one way of putting it," Jim said, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing so far from Amity Park?"

"Um… that's personal?"

None of the earthbound humans and trolls looked convinced, much less impressed.

"You freed me," Draal spoke, breaking the silence. "For that you have my gratitude. Thank you."

Phantom shrugged. "It's not that big a deal. Took me a little while to figure out how to kick him out, but I got there."

Jim perked up suddenly. "So, you're saying that you could do that for other people as well? Break Gunmar's hold over them?"

"Yeah?"

"Jim, are you thinking of freeing the entire army?" Claire asked.

Jim grinned and nodded. "There's a lot more trolls like Draal that could use your help," he said to Danny. "And that would make things easier for us as well."

Phantom frowned. "So, you're telling me this Gunmar guy is controlling a large group of people? And you want me to go through and free them all?"

Jim nodded. Phantom thought for a moment. "I can definitely help, but with each person I free it's going to get harder. Right now, his attention's got to be split between everyone he's controlling, unless this Decimaar whatever works differently than what I'm used to."

"What are you saying?" Toby asked.

"I'm saying that as I free these people, his focus is going to get more and more concentrated, or, at least, it should. Again, this might work differently. It would be best if he were distracted while I was doing this."

Jim nodded and glanced over at Aaarrrgghh and Draal. "What do you guys think?"

"If it saves our brethren, then I would like to give it a try," Draal said, pushing himself to his feet.

"Good plan," Aaarrrgghh agreed. "Need to speak with Blinky and others. Need more details."

Phantom shrugged. "I'm going to be in town for a while. You guys can hammer out the details and get me up to speed later."

"You don't want to talk things through with us?" Jim asked.

Phantom shook his head. "I'm a pretty minor part of this, and I already know what I'll be doing. And anyway, this is your fight. You know a lot more than me about… everything. I won't be much help in the planning stage."

Aaarrrgghh nodded. "Meet here tomorrow night. Talk more then."

"Sounds good to me, what time do you want me here?"

The human teens exchanged looks. "Be here by seven," Jim answered.

"Alrighty then, I'll see you then." Phantom quickly faded out of sight and was gone.

"What was that?" Claire finally asked.

"I have no idea," Draal answered.

"Ask Blinky," Aaarrrgghh said with a nod. "Let's go."

The group nodded and began moving towards the woods. Draal stayed where he was frowning at them. "Trollmarket's that way," he said, pointing behind them.

Jim winced and turned to face Draal. "Yeah, about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "We don't exactly have control of Trollmarket anymore."

Draal stood there, terrified and amazed. "How long?" he whispered.

"About three weeks now," Toby said gently. "We'll get it back, Draal."

"Did I- What happened?"

"We'll explain when we get to our campsite. Blinky'll be waiting for us," Jim said, gesturing for Draal to follow them into the woods. Draal hardened his expression, burying the emotions, and nodded.

No other words passed between the five of them as they tromped through the woods, the light of the moon and Jim's armor just barely enough to see where they were going. Eventually, they came to a cliff face with a large opening that lead into a complicated cave system. They walked down the winding tunnels and barely paused at any of the turns and forks. Finally, they came to a larger open cavern with human lamps and fairy lights strung up and fires lit around the room to provide light. Not a single crystal from Trollmarket could be seen. Draal's eyes were glassy as they barely took in the ramshackle hideout.

"Welcome to camp," Jim said dully. "This is what's left."

"This is all you could save, Trollhunter?"

Jim slumped slightly and ducked his head. "Yeah, Usurna managed to get us away from Trollmarket while she brought Gunmar in. There was barely time to get this much out."

"See Blinky now," Aaarrrgghh said, pushing slightly on Draal's shoulder as he began to lead the way through the maze of makeshift houses.

Draal turned to Aaarrrgghh, a snarl beginning to pull at his face, eyes shining with tears he refused to let fall. "You expect us to live like this?" he hissed. "Like outcasts? Like stray animals?"

Aaarrrgghh whirled to face him. "Live like survivors," he said. "This is war. Do what we must. Talk to Blinky now."

"Why aren't we going to Vendel? Where is the old goat?"

"Vendel…" Jim spoke up. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Vendel is dead. Usurna killed him when he figured out what was going on. They were alone in the Heartstone."

"We only know it was her because Vendel managed to use an Animus Stone in his last moments," Toby added.

Draal looked like he'd been punched in the gut.

"Talk to Blinky now," Aaarrrgghh said again. "Blinky new elder."

Draal followed Aaarrrgghh numbly. All this had happened while he was under Gunmar's control? He had probably played his own part in the catastrophe. There was no way Gunmar hadn't had him tearing his home apart as they searched for new victims for the Decimaar Blade. What else had they lost? How bad was it really?

Blinky was at the far end of the cave. Draal was only just coming out of his stupor when they arrived, leaving him aware enough to process exactly who else was with Blinky.

"Draal?" Blinky said. "What are- Are you free of-"

"What is that Impure doing here?" he growled, stomping up to Strickler. Strickler took a step back, trying to distance himself slightly from the clearly extremely angry young troll.

"Draal, please," Blinky said as he placed himself between the two. "Strickler is on our side, now. His help has proven invaluable."

"How."

"He's helped us get our hands on magical artifacts we can use against Gunmar and the Krubera," Jim answered. "He's also helped the three of us set up defenses for our homes and families seeing as Aaarrrgghh was needed here and we didn't have the resources to spare. And then there's the defenses here."

"And you trust him with that? If he has fooled you, they will do nothing but leave us unprepared for an attack."

"We cross referenced his ideas. They work," Blinky assured him. "We have managed to sneak into Trollmarket several times to steal books and resources to confirm Strickler's plans."

"And we set them up ourselves, so he couldn't have sabotaged any of them," Claire added.

"So, the other way of putting it," Toby said, "is no, we didn't trust him, but everything he's done and told us so far has been accurate and helpful, so now we do."

"We have lost everything, and you bring changelings into our number."

"We don't have the option of being picky right now," Jim pressed. "We'll take what we can get. Speaking of which, Blinky, we need to talk."

"About what, Young Atlas?" Strickler asked, getting his cool back now that Draal seemed to be defused.

"How we managed to free Draal. Well, we didn't do it, but the person who did is willing to help us. It was… strange."

"How so?" Blinky asked as he directed Draal to take a seat where one of the few medical trolls they had left would see to him.

"He looked human," Toby said, "except for the pure white hair, glowing green eyes, and the ability to fly, turn invisible, and go through things."

"He what!?" Blinky jumped and turned back to the teens. "That's preposterous! Nothing can do that!"

"Actually," Jim said, "my mom's cousins, which I guess mean they're my cousins, and their kids are in town. They were talking about things like that. Heck, they were talking about this specific one. They call these people ghosts. Judging by tonight, I'm not sure how accurate their information is, but they definitely mentioned one going by the name 'Danny Phantom' and that's how this one introduced himself."

"Where are your cousins from?" Strickler asked. "I swear I've heard something like this before."

"Amity Park."

Strickler blinked down at him. "I guess I owe some people an apology. I had heard reports about ghosts and the goings on of Amity Park, but had dismissed them as local myths and lore, even when the agents were particularly adamant that it was real."

Jim frowned. "Amity Park's a pretty small out of the way place. If you guys didn't believe the stories, why were you even there?"

"The current mayor is Vlad Masters and a person of particular interest, being one of the highest earning business men of our day and age."

"Regardless," Blinky said, waving Strickler's musings off. "What of this Phantom, Master Jim?"

"He's the one that freed Draal," Jim said. "He also said he's willing to help us out by freeing the rest of Gunmar's army, but he said it would work best if Gunmar were distracted at the time."

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you're thinking, Master Jim," Blinky said.

Strickler took a step forward, gazing down at Jim. "I believe he is suggesting a full assault on Trollmarket, Blinky. Something we have repeatedly told him we cannot do."

"C'mon!" Jim said. "We have Draal back, and now we have Phantom to free the ones trapped under the control of the Decimaar Blade. It'll catch them off guard!"

"And where do you intend to get the forces for such an attack?" Blinky asked him. "The people we have left are by no means warriors, Master Jim, and they cannot withstand attacking Gunmar's forces directly."

"The ones we free-"

"Are also not soldiers, Master Jim."

"I'm not sure that'd be a good idea anyway," Claire interrupted. "Jim, you saw how disoriented Draal was when he was released, and Phantom seemed to be expecting that. Anyone he frees isn't going to be in fighting condition."

"Alright. I get it," Jim sighed. "I just feel so useless."

"I understand, Master Jim," Blinky said, placing a hand on Jim's armored shoulder. "Sometimes the hardest part of fighting, is knowing when not to. Although, we may still be able to use this to our advantage."

"I quite agree, Blinky," Strickler said. "We may not be able to attack directly, at least, not yet, but we can still whittle away at their forces while growing our own."

"What have you got in mind?"

"Concentrated strikes using this Phantom character. We identify small patrols and take them out. Any under the control of the Blade are freed and brought back here, while the rest are killed."

"Stealthy," Toby said. "I like it."

"They'll notice," Aaarrrgghh said. "Increase numbers, keep line of sight."

"True, they'll adapt rather quickly if they realize what we're doing. But if we do as many as we can in a single night, we should still be able to do a great deal of damage to both numbers and moral."

"What about the whole distraction part?" Claire pointed out. "He said it would likely get harder the more he freed. Something about Gunmar's attention being split over fewer people."

"That does pose an issue," Blinky agreed. "Perhaps we should consider striking Gunmar and his guard directly? We know we can move about Trollmarket undetected. If we can catch them while they are alone, isolate them from the rest of the force, we can keep Gunmar distracted while Phantom works."

"Hmm, yes, that could work. Simply mix my plan and Jim's. Have Phantom wipe out any members of the guard under the Blade and have the remainder removed by our combatants while Jim and a few others engage Gunmar. Those on the periphery could then expand outward or run interference against Gunmar's troops. Jim, what do you think?"

Jim thought for a moment. "It should work, but as you said, we don't have a lot of fighters. We'll need to pick our timing carefully."

"Young Atlas, do you know how long Phantom will be in town?" Strickler asked.

Jim shook his head. "No. I can ask him tomorrow night. We have plans to meet up with him to talk things through."

"That will have to do," Blinky said, beginning to shoo the teenagers out. "It must be getting late for you. You should get home and get your rest. You'll need it."

"But-"

"No buts, Master Jim, you need to rest. I know firsthand how much sleep you humans need, and I have been told that teenagers need even more than adults, so you lot are going home, now."

Claire laughed at the sight of Jim being pushed towards the exit by the old librarian. "We're going, Blinky. C'mon, Jim, we don't want our parents noticing!" She began jogging through the camp, not waiting for the others to catch up.

Toby and Jim scrambled after her. Neither wanted anyone to have to travel the woods alone, given how dangerous that had become over the last several weeks. Blinky smiled after his young charges as they playfully pushed each other around and began racing through the huts.

"They offer a lot of hope, don't they?" Strickler mused aloud.

"They do," Blinky agreed. "We could use a bit more, if I'm honest. Even their light-hearted play can only do so much. They are children after all."

Aaarrrgghh nodded along, but only rumbled his agreement as he turned to check up on Draal, who was grumbling through his treatment, much like his father used to. Aaarrrgghh bid the pair a farewell as they began debating how best to gather the new information they would need to properly plan the attack and Draal was released from the healers.

Moving to stand next to Draal, Aaarrrgghh waited patiently.

"Here to smother me as well?" Draal asked bitterly.

Aaarrrgghh shook his head. "Not smother. Help."

"I don't need your help, Aaarrrgghh."

Aaarrrgghh rolled his eyes. "Help find place to sleep. Set up your spot."

"Oh. I suppose that would be nice. Are there any spots left?"

Aaarrrgghh shrugged. "A few. Not good ones. One near me and Blinky."

"I suppose that will be as good as any," Draal said, moving to stand and failing to hide a wince, but only barely. Aaarrrgghh was certain the only reason he could see it was because he was used to watching for such signs in Kanjigar. He wanted desperately to offer help and support to his injured friend but knew Draal would never accept it. If anything, it would probably only make him sulky and frustrated. He had enough to deal with without feeling like he was being babied.

"This way," Aaarrrgghh said instead, gesturing for Draal to follow him. The pair picked their way through the crowd, coming to a stop only a few minutes later at the edge of the cave. "Blinky and I that way," Aaarrrgghh said, pointing down the line of cloth tents and sheet metal huts. Some spots were only a pile of blankets on the ground. "Purple tent."

"Ah, yes, I see it."

"Wait here."

"What are yo-"

"Wait. here." Aaarrrgghh stared Draal down for several seconds to make sure Draal was going to listen before leaving. When he returned he was carrying a pile of blankets under one arm. "Until we can get more supplies," he said, holding out the bundle. Draal hesitated, staring at the cloth. "Don't make it weird."

Draal immediately took the blankets. "Um, thank you."

Aaarrrgghh nodded, satisfied. Or so it had seemed. He stood and waited until Draal had the blankets set up the way he liked and lay down. Once Aaarrrgghh was sure Draal was well on his way to sleep, he nodded again and left. As much as he hated thinking about his past, Blinky and Strickler were going to need his help to make their plans, so he was going to have to dig up so difficult memories. But anything for Trollmarket. Anything to bring down Gunmar. Anything for those kids.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny zipped through the air across the city. He'd had to wait for Jim to leave and then he'd had to spend several minutes trying to slip away from his parents and Dr. Lake. It had been a bit harder than normal, but after a while, he managed. But he was still running late. When he'd left it was six fifty-two. At least he could fly fast enough that it didn't really matter. He'd just wanted to get there first to keep them for realizing he had anywhere else to be.

Danny slowed and pulled to a stop as he came to the edge of the woods. Standing right at the edge were Jim, Claire, and Toby. Jim wasn't wearing his armor this time and none of them had their weapons out.

"Hey," Danny called down, sliding into the visible spectrum and floating down to talk with them.

The teens jumped slightly and tensed as they glanced upwards. Once they realized it was Danny, they relaxed. Jim waved.

"Well, we've got a plan," Jim said, "but we're still working out some of the details."

Danny nodded. "I'm a little surprised you came up with anything that quickly. So, whatcha got?"

"First of all," Claire said, "how long are you going to be in town?"

Danny hesitated. He didn't want to rush them or tell them he'd be here longer than he would be, but he didn't want Jim to figure it out either. He shrugged. "Oh, uh, two weeks, I think?"

"You think?" Toby asked.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not really the one making the plans."

"Isn't that how long the Fenton's are supposed to be here?" Jim asked.

"Is it?" Danny asked, fighting to keep his voice level. "I hadn't noticed." There it went, straight into the stratosphere.

"You're following them, aren't you?" Claire accused.

"What? No! Absolutely not. Not following anyone. Just out here. On my own. Travelling."

"Yeah, you're a horrible liar," Toby said.

"Why are you following them?" Jim demanded, putting his hand in his pocket.

"I just told you, I'm not-" Danny stopped when he saw Jim's eyes narrow. He thought he saw Jim's jaw clench as well but wasn't certain. He sighed. "I'm not going to hurt anyone, and I'm not spying."

"Then why."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, as we mentioned last time, they don't exactly… like me. And they make weapons and other things that could seriously hurt me. They tend to be bad at the whole 'hunting' thing, but they might give it to someone better or they might talk to them about their tech or something like that. I don't want more problems than I already have. I didn't know they were coming out here to visit family, so I decided to… tag along?"

"That sounds like spying to me," Claire said.

"Yup, definitely spying," Toby agreed.

"Fine, okay, so I was spying," Danny admitted. "But I'm not spying now that I know it's just family, not some meeting with the Guys in White or someone like that. I just have to leave when they do so they don't realize I left Amity while they were gone."

Jim nodded. "I can live with that. Just one more question."

Danny rolled his eyes and gestured for Jim to get on with it.

"The Fenton's said you… well, that you've attempted to kidnap the mayor, robbed a few stores, and caused a lot of property damage."

For a moment, no one moved or said anything. The human teens waiting for Danny to respond and Danny waiting to see if they had anything else to say. "Alright, starting from the top," Danny mumbled when he realized that was all they were going to say. "The mayor was being overshadowed by a ghost that was deliberately trying to turn the town against me, and he succeeded. If anything, he was dragging me back into that building, not the other way around. The robberies were mind control. Freakshow, the ringmaster of the Circus Gothica had a staff that allowed him to control the minds of ghosts. It broke, and I was freed and was able to get him caught. All of the stolen items were found on his train. The property damage…" Danny sighed again. "I defend myself and Amity Park from ghosts that don't care if anyone else gets hurt. It's all I can do to make sure no one gets seriously injured. If I break a few walls, windows, cars, or whatever else, so be it. Add to that the Guys in White who destroyed the observatory just because they thought I was there without giving any warning or trying to get civilians out of the way, and I'm probably the last one the Fentons should be concerned about in regard to property damage."

"So, it's not your fault?"

Danny nodded. "And the Fentons only really blame me because they hate ghosts and have a bad case of confirmation bias."

Jim, Toby, and Claire traded looks. With a small shrug, Jim turned back to Danny. "I can accept that. It's not like we haven't gotten blamed for things like that before, we've just had some good luck."

"So…" Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "I know Jim's name because… you know, but who are the rest of you?"

"I'm Claire," Claire said.

"And this is Toby," Jim finished.

"And your plan?"

"We're planning on finding a time to get Gunmar alone," Jim said. "You and some others will handle his guards and we will handle Gunmar. You'll also run some interference if more of Gunmar's soldiers show up."

Danny nodded. "Do you have a time?"

All three shook their heads. "We need to plan things out a bit more, but we should be able to do that before you're two weeks are up," Claire said.

"Yeah, just give us a little time to do some recon and we'll have everything ready," Toby said flashing a thumbs up.

Danny nodded. They waited. There wasn't much left to say.

"So, you're dead," Toby said.

Danny felt his back stiffen. This should be interesting. "I am," he said.

"What's it like, the afterlife?"

"What's it like living?"

"Toby," Claire whispered, "don't be rude."

"What!? How am I supposed to know if I'm being rude?"

Danny grunted. "That's a fair point," he admitted. "Just know that asking the dead about death generally isn't a good idea. Especially don't ask about their death."

"Why not?" Jim asked. "I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to-"

Danny waved him off. "Two reasons. It's personal and it's probably the most painful memory they have. Sharing is a sign of trust and care."

Jim nodded. "So, that'll be everything. We should probably go before any of us puts a foot in our mouth again."

Danny laughed and waved as they left.

"Wait, how will we get in contact with you when it's time?" Claire asked.

"You guys aren't in school right now, right?"

The three exchanged looks, then shook their heads.

"How do you feel about some awkward stalking?"

Claire made a face. "No thanks."

"Fair enough. But I don't exactly have much to do around here, so I've been staying near the Fentons." He put his hands up to stop Jim from calling him out. "Not sticking my nose in anything, but just kinda hanging out. Gotta say, I've taken a bit of liking to their kids." That was probably too much. "Anyway, the point is you can find me around them if you really need to."

"I suppose that works," Jim muttered. "Just-"

"Respect privacy," Danny finished. "Yeah, trust me. There are lines I'm not gonna cross."

Jim nodded and went back to herding his friends into the woods. "So, I guess you'll see me around."

Danny nodded and waved at the retreating teens and vanished. He quickly flew back to the Lake house and snuck back inside. Jim and the others were going to be out for a while yet. Hopefully, no one kicked up a fuss about that. Danny wasn't sure if he could safely deflect any suspicion, but he would probably try. Stupidly and stubbornly.

"So, Danny, where did you get off to? I know there aren't any ghosts around for you to fight."

Danny jumped and pushed down the instinct to throw an ectoblast. "Don't do that," he hissed at his sister. "And really, I don't have to have a ghost to fight. Maybe I just like flying."

Jazz thought for a second. "You could, but I don't think that's what you were doing. You'd probably have waited until everyone was asleep or slipped out during the day when no one would worry if you disappeared."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah. But I do like flying. It's good for clearing my head."

Jazz smiled. "I'm glad," she said. "You need some ways to destress. But, really, what were you doing?"

Danny glanced around. The parents were in the living room, enjoying themselves. Danny led Jazz outside before answering, better to keep this conversation away from eavesdroppers. "Do you remember what Dr. Lake was saying to Mom and Dad the first night?"

Jazz snorted. "You mean what she was saying about Jim? Yeah. Sounded a lot like you if Mom and Dad were more observant and you had the option of keeping ghosts and school separate."

Danny nodded. "More than you might think. Jim's got himself involved in… something."

Jazz took a seat on the back steps and waited Danny out.

"I don't know much, but… I need to help them. There's this guy Gunmar or whatever his name was. He has a way of controlling people. It's like a mix between overshadowing and Freakshow's staff. I can't just ignore that. And to make things worse, I think he's using it to build up an army."

"How did you find out about it?" Jazz asked.

Danny started pacing. "The first night we were here Jim snuck out. I thought he might be involved in something dangerous- well he is, I was more worried about criminal- and I decided to go out and try and find him. I came across one of Gunmar's puppets and got into a fight." Danny ignored Jazz's amused snort. "Part way through Jim and his friends showed up and started trying to subdue him, I think. I used the distraction to get inside and free him."

"And now you want to help them free the others."

Danny nodded, dropping onto the grass facing Jazz. "They're working on a plan. I think they're going to try and take Gunmar down at the same time."

Jazz nodded. "Sounds like you. I suggest you get to know more about what's going on here, though."

Danny snorted. "How do you expect me to do that? They don't seem to want to tell me much and I'm probably not going to know what they're doing until it's time to go. Oh, and they think I'm here stalking Mom and Dad, by the way."

Jazz gave Danny a look.

"What?"

"Really, you told them you were stalking Mom and Dad."

"Well, I used the word 'spying' when I was talking to them, and it was the only thing I could think of to explain why I was here for the same time frame as us, and they knew I was lying when I told them I wasn't following the Mom and Dad."

Jazz sighed. "We need to work on your cover stories."

"Hey! I do better than you!"

Jazz shrugged. "But I'm not the one being questioned all the time."

"I'm not usually being questioned either. Back home people just accept it."

"Yeah, and then we leave, and you get into trouble and things like this happen. What are we going to do if the Guys in White start thinking you're hiding among civilians again? What do we do if you are found as Danny Fenton near a ghost fight when you were supposed to be on the other side of town? What if someone does start questioning? We need an actual story. We need them to believe you."

Danny flopped back and watched the stars. He didn't like it when Jazz got like this. She was right, of course, but Danny didn't see what he could do about it. "We can see more stars here," he said.

Jazz looked up as well. "Yeah. It's beautiful."

The two sat in silence, enjoying the stars like they never got to back home, both because of the light pollution and because of the ghosts.

Jazz sighed and stood. "At least think about it, little brother. I don't want to lose you."

Danny could feel tears pricking at his eyes but held them back. "I know," he said. "I don't want to lose you either."

Jazz nodded to herself and stepped back inside.

Danny lay on the grass and reached his hand up, imagining he was touching the stars. Big fiery balls of light and hydrogen and helium millions and billions of miles away. Planets, mere pinpricks, almost indistinguishable from the rest of the mass, reflecting light back to the earth from their own sun. He sighed and dropped his hand back to the ground. He wanted badly to just go and fly now. Forget gravity, forget earth, forget the lies and deceptions and half-truths that kept him alive.

He'd always hated lying, even before the accident. Sure, he would lie from time to time, but only about small things. Then it happened, and everything changed, and Danny had no idea what to do. The only thing he was sure about was that he had become what his parents hated. So now he lied. Regularly. And he hated it more than ever.

By the Ancients, he wanted to go fly. He wanted to get as close to that stars as he could without leaving Earth. Probably as close as he was ever going to get now. With his grades and his… condition, he was never going to make it into NASA, much less on one of their missions.

Danny shook himself out of his thoughts and stood. He couldn't afford to go flying now. He'd already spent too much time out tonight. Maybe he could fly later once everyone else went to sleep. Regardless, for now he had to go back inside and spend some time with his family and act like nothing was wrong and his cousin wasn't actually leading some kind of war at night. He sighed and trudged into the house, plastering on a smile once his parents noticed him. He might not be good at coming up with stories if anyone questioned him closely, but he had gotten good at pretending everything was fine. Now, all he had to do was keep the act up until he could slip away again.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny and Jazz tromped through the woods alone. Jim and his friends had disappeared again, much to Dr. Lake's disappointment, and Dr. Lake had to return to work while the Fenton parents were visiting a nearby company that made specialized components to see about a new part they needed and didn't have the equipment to make themselves. Which left Danny and Jazz alone in a strange town with nothing to do. Danny still didn't know why Jazz wanted to go hang out in the forest, but here they were.

"Why are we out here?" Danny asked for the fiftieth time as he jumped down from the log he'd been balancing on.

Jazz sighed but answered again anyway. "You need some fresh air. And not the fresh air you get while flying," she cut him off when she saw him open his mouth to argue. "You need to spend more time enjoying nature with your feet on the ground."

Danny rolled his eyes but let it go. "So," he said, "is there anything else you want me to do the normal human way while we're here?"

Jazz gave him a disappointed look. "We should see if we can find the local hangouts. Make some new friends here."

"Jazz, we have friends back home. I don't need more friends here. I especially don't need friends I can't actually talk to about my problems."

"Fine, what do you suggest we do?"

Danny thought for a moment. "We'll find something to do in town." He shrugged. "We could also do some training out here. It's secluded enough, and I doubt anyone's going to notice some scorched trees."

"I suppose we are going to be here for a while. I have no doubt Mom and Dad have their own plans as well."

"The real question is whether or not they remembered to include us in those plans or if they're all business."

Jazz didn't respond to that. As much as she hoped they did and didn't like Danny's pessimistic way of thinking, that didn't change the fact that he had a point. Their parents could forget the most obvious and important things if it didn't have to do with ghosts.

They walked in silence for several minutes, birds chirping and wind blowing through their hair in a way that Danny found profoundly unsatisfying. It was like the wind was teasing him, reminding him of what it felt like to be free and move quickly through the air and the trees while he wasn't allowed to. "So are we just supposed to wander around like this, or are we actually going to do something?"

Jazz rolled her eyes again. "This is why you need to be down on the ground, little brother. You have no patience or appreciation for nature."

Danny pouted. "I appreciate nature."

Jazz snorted. "Yeah right. Danny, you can barely go five minutes without saying something about how you're bored, don't want to be here, don't understand why we're out here, don't know what you're supposed to do, or something else to that effect."

Danny continued pouting as he wandered farther ahead. He could go more than five minutes without saying anything derogatory about Jazz's chosen activity. He could, and he would.

They kept walking.

"Isn't this so much fun, Jazz," Danny said, plastering a massive grin across his face.

Jazz didn't even stop to look at him. "Sarcasm counts, Danny. Two and a half."

Danny scowled at her but shut up again.

He paused, looking up at a tree appraisingly. Jazz didn't want him to fly, but that didn't mean he couldn't climb. Latching onto a low hanging branch, Danny levered himself up. He pulled his feet under him and picked his next branch.

"Danny, what are you doing?"

"Climbing," he said, wrapping his hands around his target and pulling himself up again. The next ones probably wouldn't be able to withstand all of his weight as he pulled himself up.

"If you fall-"

"One," Danny said as he chose a pair of branches to support him as he continued upwards, "I can fly. Two," he picked the branch he would stand on and moved to climb up to it, "I can turn intangible. I'm not going to get hurt."

Jazz sighed and shook her head but let the subject drop. Danny kept climbing. And climbing. And-

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think we're alone out here."

What could-? "Stay there. I'm on my way down."

Danny began climbing back down, a tad bit slower than he had gone up as he tried to map out a human way down.

Jazz shrieked.

Danny stared down through the branches, horrified and frozen as he saw Jazz backing up against the trunk of the tree. "Jazz, run!" he yelled as he pushed himself back into motion. He was significantly less cautious now, moving faster as he tapped into his ghostly flight to make himself lighter as hopped from branch to branch. Jazz turned and ran.

A dark arm made of stone and covered in strange armor with glowing green markings and green claws on the tips of the fingers came into view, swinging a spear that struck the trunk where Jazz had been standing. Danny dropped through the last branches and landed on the arm. Maybe he should have transformed. Too late now. He grabbed the spear's shafted and used it and his arms to get leverage as he drove his feet into the creature's helmeted face. It stumbled backwards and released its weapon in surprise.

"Alright, big guy," Danny said as he dropped to the ground and pulled the spear out of the tree, "let's see how you do without your nice glowy spear." He leveled the tip at him and waited. The spear was way too big for him, but he didn't really care. He would make it work, one way or another.

The creature grunted, but said nothing as it charged forward, reaching a hand out to grab Danny. Danny slashed its arm, the blow glancing off its armor, and skipped backwards out of reach and darted behind some trees. The creature growled and followed. Despite its oddly short legs for its height and broad shoulders, it was quite fast. Danny ducked under another reaching arm, this time jabbing the spear into a gap in the armor under its arm. It bellowed and swatted Danny aside. Danny rolled with it, turning it from something that would have broken ribs and sent him flying into something that only stung a little.

"Really?" he taunted. "That's all you've got? I fought worse when I was ten." Not anywhere close to true, but what did it know?

It charged forward, and Danny dodged, quickly weaving through the trees. It didn't stop for the trees. At all. Danny was forced to leap out of the way and dive to the ground to avoid being crushed.

Another scream pierced the air. Dammit, it was on the other side of the creature. Danny snarled and rushed forward, reading the spear. He ducked under its arms again and slashed at it when it tried to correct itself. Once on the other side, Danny took off sprinting. He allowed his ghostly flight to seep into his steps, making him lighter and faster as his feet only barely touched the ground. To an outsider he would look unusually fast and graceful as he bounded over obstacles that should have at least slowed him down without even breaking his stride. He could hear the thing following him and falling further and further behind.

Danny skidded to a stop when he came to where Jazz was. The creature that was standing a careful distance away looked… familiar and decidedly not threatening. As a matter of fact, the expression on its face made it seem like it was hurt that Jazz was afraid of it. Danny glanced between the two as they finally noticed him, and Jazz relaxed slightly.

"Danny!" Jazz shouted. "What the heck is going on!?"

Danny just shrugged and turned to the creature again, looking it over and trying to place where he'd seen it before. "Who are you?"

"Danny!?"

It smiled at him. "Aaarrrgghh," it said in a deep rumbling voice that was reminiscent of rocks rolling across the ground. Given it looked like it was made of rock, Danny figure he probably wasn't too far off. "Three Rs."

Jazz stared at it, looking extremely surprised it could speak. It smiled down at her. "Sorry for scaring."

"Um, it's alright. You just… surprised me, I guess."

Its… Danny mentally amended himself and moved the creature into the "his" category… smile grew even wider. "So, uhm," Danny spoke up, "what, exactly, are you?"

"Danny!" Jazz hissed. "You can't just-"

"Troll," Aaarrrgghh answered. Then he noticed the spear Danny was still carrying and his smile melted into a concerned frown. "Gumm-Gumm spear," he said as he moved forward, walking with his fists on the ground for support like a gorilla.

Danny frowned, glancing down at the spear. Another look at Aaarrrgghh and Danny held the spear out for him to look closer.

"Where?" Aaarrrgghh asked.

Danny gestured over his shoulder. "I took it from a… Gumm-Gumm back there?"

Aaarrrgghh started looking Danny over, seemingly checking for injuries. "Where now?"

"Still back there somewhere?"

Aaarrrgghh looked surprised. "Killed Gumm-Gumm?"

"What!? No!"

Aaarrrgghh turned his attention to the woods, scanning the trees. He snorted and turned back to the teens. "Gone now." He looked them over again. "Who?"

"I'm Jazz," Jazz spoke, finally getting her wits back, "and this is my brother, Danny."

Aaarrrgghh smiled at them again, relaxing slightly. "Nice to meet you." He glanced around again. "This way," he gestured for them to follow him as he started walking. At this point, neither teen actually knew where they were or where to go next, so they simply shrugged at each other and followed. Both Aaarrrgghh and Danny kept their guard up and scanned the trees for other Gumm-Gumms as the traveled slowly and quietly through the woods.

"Still happy we came out here?" Danny whispered to Jazz.

Jazz glared at him and opened her mouth to retort when Aaarrrgghh cut their conversation short. "Quiet," he said, not turning back to look at them. They kept walking.

Suddenly, Aaarrrgghh stopped and looked at their surroundings more closely. Danny and Jazz didn't notice anything at first but crouched lower and went as still and silent as they could for the hulking troll that had become their escort/bodyguard. A branch snapped to their left and a little behind them. Aaarrrgghh moved slowly and more quietly than Danny would have thought possible as he placed himself between the humans and the noise, eyes locked in the direction the noise had been coming from. Aaarrrgghh took several deep breaths in through his nose and lifted his head higher in the air, eyes beginning to slide closed, like a dog searching for a scent. All the tension drained from his body and the two small humans behind him relaxed as well.

Aaarrrgghh smiled at his charges and opened his mouth to say something before he stopped and frowned. He took another breath in through his nose. He sniffed again, and again. Moving closer to Danny each time. Danny took a hesitant and uncomfortable step back as Aaarrrgghh started getting a bit to close. Aaarrrgghh took one last sniff from Danny's clothes and then stepped back, frowning at him. More branches snapped nearby. "Smell familiar," he said, squinting.

"Aaarrrgghh?" a young, human, and probably male voice came from the trees. Jim stepped out of the undergrowth and began pulling leaves and sticks from his clothes. "There you are. We heard the scream, but there wasn't…" he trailed off as he noticed Danny and Jazz standing with Aaarrrgghh. Then he noticed the spear. "Um, hi, guys. What are you doing out here?"

Jazz glanced at Danny who was looking between Aaarrrgghh and Jim as though he'd just realized something then said, "I figured we should go for a walk and then we came across a Dumm-Dumm?"

"Gumm-Gumm," Aaarrrgghh and Jim corrected simultaneously.

"That. Then Aaarrrgghh found us and we've been with him since," Jazz finished.

Jim looked over at Aaarrrgghh. "What happened to the Gumm-Gumm?"

Aaarrrgghh shrugged. "Never saw. Danny fought it, not killed."

Jim nodded. "So, uh, that happened."

Danny and Jazz nodded.

"Danny smell familiar."

Jim frowned at Aaarrrgghh. "You might be recognizing him from me. His family had been living with me for the past few days."

Aaarrrgghh shook his head. "Too distinct."

Jim frowned at Danny. "Why would-" his eyes lit up as he thought of something. "Are you sure it's _Danny_?"

Aaarrrgghh thought for a second, then shrugged, sniffing the air. Danny forced himself to stay still as Aaarrrgghh followed his nose straight back to Danny. He turned back to Jim and nodded.

Jim sighed. "Well, that's a problem for another day. We should get you guys out of here. I'll take that." He gestured to the spear.

Jazz crossed her arms and said, "Not until we get some answers."

Danny nodded along, pulling the spear closer. "I'll keep this for now."

"Seriously?"

Danny shrugged. "Clearly these woods aren't safe. I'd rather be ready."

Aaarrrgghh looked down at him. "Safe now."

"Because of you?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow. "No offense, but you don't look like much."

"Really, Danny?" Jazz scolded.

"He looked about as afraid of you as you were of him. Probably a little less, but the point stands."

"Aaarrrgghh's a General," Jim interrupted. "A seasoned veteran. He just doesn't like fighting. He'd be a pacifist if that were an option right now."

"And you?"

"We've all got our secrets."

"And you just let your mom go on worrying like that? What have you got to worry about? Why not tell her?"

"I don't want to worry her."

Both Danny and Jazz snorted. "You're already worrying her," Jazz said. "Just talk to her, it can't get any worse."

Jim didn't respond for a moment. "What about you?" he asked, turning to Jim. "You're hiding something from your parents as well."

Danny shrugged. "I'm worried they'll take it badly. It's nothing for you to worry about. Now, if I remember correctly, Jazz wanted some answers."

Jim glanced between the two. Jazz began tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed over her chest. Danny gave him a vicious grin. Jim sighed and turned to face Aaarrrgghh. "You're call."

Aaarrrgghh thought for a moment. "Good fighter," he muttered, watching Danny. "You trust them?"

Jim shrugged. "I haven't really had the chance to get to know them."

Aaarrrgghh nodded. "Could be worse. Tell them."

Jim nodded. "Alright," he turned back to them, "you don't tell this to anyone. And I mean anyone, not your parents, not your friends back home, no one." He waited for them to nod their understanding, once they did, he continued. "Aaarrrgghh is a troll. Trolls live underground. Beneath Arcadia is Heartstone Trollmarket, a massive trading hub and political center. Right now, one group of trolls, the Gumm-Gumms, led by Gunmar is attempting to take over the surface world. My friends and I, along with the other trolls, are trying to stop them. That's all you need to know."

"But-"

"That's all we need to know, Jazz," Danny interrupted.

Jazz gave Danny an odd look, which Danny returned with a level one, and then shrugged and accepted Danny's decision. Danny turned his attention back to Jim. "So you're fighting a secret war and I'm gonna take a guess and say you're somewhat important."

Jim and Jazz both gave Danny a confused look. "Yeah…" Jim said slowly, "how did you know that?"

Danny grinned. "You don't want word getting out and no one lets teenagers fight in a war if there's any helping it, which means there is no keeping you out of it no matter what anyone wants. Therefore, you must be important somehow. I just don't know how."

"And you don't need to know how. You're going home in a few weeks anyway. It's not like it matters."

Danny shrugged. "I'm curious, but you're right, I don't need to know."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Danny grinned even wider. "Satisfaction brought it back."

"Danny, what happened to not our business?" Jazz asked, getting mildly frustrated with how her little brother was antagonizing Jim.

Danny sent her another Cheshire grin. "But one, it's fun, and two, we both know annoying people is the only way I get them to tell me anything."

"No, that's how you get Vlad to tell you things. Everyone else you can just ask them. You annoy people when you want to fight them."

Danny thought for a second. "Huh, yeah, I guess that's true, but I don't want to fight Jim."

Jim just stared at the siblings, unsure of what was even going on anymore. Sure, he hadn't exactly spent much time around them, but this was completely out of character from what he'd seen so far. Then again, his mom didn't know he was leading a war effort, so maybe there was something to be said about parental influences.

"Whatever," Jim interrupted. "Regardless of what you want, I'm not fighting you. You know what's going on now, so can we please get you to safety and out of the forest?" The siblings exchanged a glance and shrugged at each other.

"Sure," Danny said.

Jim nodded and took the lead to take them to the edge of the forest. Danny and Jazz followed obediently with Aaarrrgghh bringing up the rear to keep an eye out for any Gumm-Gumms, Krubera, or changelings. They traveled in silence, with Jazz only breaking it every once in a while, to point out some cool plant to Danny. Once they reached the edge, Jim turned back to face them. "The spear," he said, holding out a hand to take it.

Danny hesitated but nodded and handed the weapon over. He and Jazz both stepped out of the forest and began making their way through the suburban streets to return to the safety of sunlit civilization. "Hey," Danny called turning back, "see you at dinner, Jim!" Danny waved and turned around again, following his sister.

Jim smiled slightly and quickly turned back into the woods to continue searching for any enemy soldiers looking for their camp.

"Telling you," Aaarrrgghh said quietly. "Smells familiar."

"I know," Jim said as he kept his eyes open. "I just don't know why. If you were getting the scent off me or maybe smelling Phantom on him, that would one thing. Are you sure that's not what you're smelling?"

Aaarrrgghh gave a firm nod. "Definitely Danny."

"Then I don't know what it could be." Jim shrugged and glanced around with a sigh. "C'mon, we've been out here for hours and Danny and Jazz were the only interesting thing all day. Let's head back and tell Blinky."

Aaarrrgghh hesitated but nodded. "Had spear," he said as he followed Jim.

"Huh, yeah," Jim said glancing at the spear he'd confiscated from Danny. "Wonder how he managed that." Aaarrrgghh hummed in agreement. "Well, either way," Jim continued after a moment, turning his attention back to his surroundings, "Danny and Jazz are safely out of the way and hopefully will listen to me about not telling anyone."

Aaarrrgghh nodded again. "Talk to Blinky."

"I know, we need to keep everyone up to date. I should probably spend some more time with them to make sure they don't say anything."

"How long?"

Jim shrugged. "I'll probably just spend the next couple of days hanging out with them or something, shouldn't be too long and I'll still be able to slip away at night."

Aaarrrgghh nodded. "Good plan." After that they walked in silence, the animals going silent as they passed, unsure of how to react to the massive creature of stone walking with its knuckles on the ground. It was calm and quiet and peaceful. All they had to do was get through these two weeks and everything would be fine again. Hopefully.


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner that night had been somewhat awkward and stilted, but that was mostly Jim's fault. Both of the Fenton children had more than enough practice acting like everything was normal and nothing had changed thanks to Vlad stopping by for meals unannounced. Danny had also figured out how to talk over his parents' heads if he needed to for the exact same reason, but that relied on shared history and understanding that they weren't saying what anyone else heard. He didn't even bother trying to hold a conversation about what happened in the forest with Jim. Not until they were alone as Danny prepared for bed and Jim prepared to pretend to go to bed.

Even then Danny didn't think there was really anything worth talking about. Jim on the other hand…

"You didn't say anything."

Danny looked up and frowned at Jim as the older boy moved around the room in his nightly routine. "No. We didn't."

"Why?"

Danny shook his head slightly, laughing under his breath. "I'm not about to say anything about things that aren't my business. I can strongly advise and recommend that you tell your mom, but neither of us are ever going to tell her for you unless you explicitly tell us to."

Jim stared at him, hands frozen in place as he processed the new information. He had expected… something, although now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure why. No one else that found out had told anyone. Not even Eli and Steve. Eli in particular had been a bit of a surprise to find out how good he was at keeping the secret. Then again, everyone else was actively invested and fighting. Danny and Jazz would be leaving in a few weeks and really had nothing to do with all of this. For them there would be no real consequences either way. Or, at least, as far as they should be able to tell there wouldn't be any consequences.

Jim shook his head and once more opened the window as Danny lay down in his sleeping bag. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said quietly. Danny grunted and waved him off. Jim left without another word, leaving his doubts behind. Maybe they just weren't all that worried about his secrets and really did see it as none of their business. Maybe they actually understood.

* * *

"You're babysitting us, aren't you?"

Jim stifled a yawn and took another sip of his coffee while he watched the siblings across the table from him. It had been understandably tense and awkward at the start and Jim was glad that Danny had finally broken the silence, even if it was to accuse him. "What makes you say that?"

Jazz raised an eyebrow at him. She wasn't nearly as hostile as her younger brother but was still a little annoyed with him. "The first day you decided to tag along with us is the day after we wander into your little problem, and you're clearly rather busy. How are you not keeping any eye on us to make sure we don't say anything? It's rather obvious, especially if the Clueless One can notice it."

"Hey," Danny halfheartedly grumbled, "I'm not that clueless."

Jazz shrugged. "You're certainly getting better. Even more so when it involves… this kind of stuff."

What was "this kind of stuff"? And why would Danny be less clueless with it than with other things? The second question was fairly obvious, he was more aware and had more practice or maybe it was because he considered it more important. But the first… she seemed to be referring to the war and Jim's secret keeping. But why would that be something Danny was good with?

Jim decided to ignore it for now. "So, I can't just spend time with my cousins?"

Both of the Fenton sibling gave him a look that was both disbelieving and disappointed. "Don't insult our intelligence," Danny said. "It's just rude."

Jazz snorted but said nothing.

"Fine, what are you guys planning on doing today?"

The pair shrugged. "We were going to go explore the town, see what we could find," Danny said. "Once we get a better feel for the area and what's available to us, say, in a few days or so, we might go do our own thing."

Jazz nodded. "Until then we were planning on exploring the area together."

Jim nodded slightly. "Well, this is the coffee shop, obviously. We've also got a museum, an arcade, a theater, and some other fun things, but most of them are small shops, so I don't know how much you'll be interested. There's also the library."

Danny and Jazz exchanged a silent conversation. Jim was beginning to wonder if that was a sibling thing or a Fenton thing. Seeing as he and all of his friends were only children (Enrique, being a literal baby, didn't really count for this), he couldn't actually be sure. Suddenly, Danny rolled his eyes and slumped slightly in his seat, even as the corners of his lips tugged upwards, and Jazz turned back to Jim with a triumphant smile on her lips. "We'll go to the museum first," she said.

"Hope you like the place," Danny said as he took a sip from his own drink that had been largely ignored until now. "We'll probably be there all day."

Jazz rolled her eyes this time, elbowing her brother. "Please, I can't imagine it'll be big enough to take up an entire day."

Danny grinned playfully at her. "With you it doesn't need to be that big," he teased.

Jazz blushed and shoved him playfully but didn't deny it. Jim bit back a groan, of course they'd pick the museum. Hopefully today would be a good day.

* * *

It wasn't. Jim found himself simultaneously bored out of his mind and hyper aware as he tried to corral them away from certain areas that reminded him far too much of some very bad experiences. At least they won those fights. Or escaped them at the very least.

Regardless of Jim's current mental state, he spent the day wrangling and corralling the Fenton siblings through the Museum while Jazz insisted she read everything. Oh, and Danny had disappeared at some point during their little trip, and Jim had no idea where he'd gone, how long he'd been gone, or what he thought he was doing. Jazz insisted he not worry and that Danny was just in the bathroom and would catch up with them, but- a loud crash echoed through the halls followed by… yelling? That sounded a bit like-

"C'mon," Jazz said, "let's go find a quieter area until the staff can get that settled."

Jim followed her dumbly as she rattled on and on about whatever exhibit she'd just been looking at. He had no doubt they'd have to do a lot of backtracking later, so she could look at all the exhibits they were passing that she had barely even glanced at. Finally, at the far end of the museum, she found a nice quiet spot and began looking at the artifacts and displays.

"Wasn't that-"

"Ooo, renaissance era pottery," Jazz muttered, pointedly ignoring what Jim had been about to say. "Don't see that as much as you might think."

Jim bit back his comments and questions and found a bench to sit on while Jazz examined her latest find. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Danny was regretting following his ghost sense. It going off this far from home was never a good sign (not that it going off at home was a good sign either), so he felt obligated to check it out given the lack of ghost hunters in the area. He had hoped to get things cleaned up nice and quick and return to Jim and Jazz before anyone actually noticed anything.

"Fear my corrugated cardboard boxes of doom!"

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

"None of these boxes are cardboard, Boxy," Danny said. He dodged another flying box. "And they probably have a lot of very breakable and valuable items in them, so if you could please stop throwing them, that would be greatly appreciated."

Another crate flew past Danny's head. This wasn't working. "That's it!" Danny lit up his fist in bright blue light, encasing the flying boxes in ice to both get them away from Boxy and back on the ground and hopefully help protect the items inside. Now, if those items were sensitive to temperature… That wasn't his problem. He switched to green. The ball of energy missed Boxy, but still startled him, and burst against the wall, leaving a burn mark.

"Hey!" Boxy yelled at him. "That wasn't very nice!"

"Wasn't trying to be nice!" Danny shouted back. "Now, there's the easy way and the hard way! Like always," he grumbled the last part under his breath. He really needed to think of some new lines, so he would stop using those clichés.

"Your cylinder cannot contain me, the Box Ghost!" Danny suppressed a groan as Boxy launched right back into his trademarked ranty monologue thing.

"Clearly my cylinder can contain you, seeing as it's worked so many times before!" Danny launched another ectoblast, then another, and another. The first missed as Boxy lurched sideways. The second hit him in the gut and the third struck his shoulder. Boxy dived. Danny dived after him. He really needed to get this fight away from all the dusty, old, and useless artefacts that filled the half put together exhibit on… Danny pushed the thought away, that didn't matter. He grabbed Boxy by the back of his overalls and pulled, shifting out of tangibility and taking them outside, away from any boxes that could be turned into property damage projectiles.

"No!" Boxy yelled at him, thrashing in his grip. "You won't take me! I won't let you! I will not be trapped in that cylinder!"

Danny glared at the annoyance. "If you had just stayed in Amity Park or, better yet, the Ghost Zone, we wouldn't be having this problem right now! So, just sit still, stop struggling, and we can get this over with quickly and I promise I'll let you go as soon as we get home!"

"No!" Boxy tore free.

"Goddamnit, Boxy!" They were off, zigging and zagging, chasing through the air and never stopping for anything. "Get back here!" Danny yelled as they dipped into another dive.

They pulled up again. Left. Right. Up. Right. Down. Left. Up. Danny shot an ectoblast into Boxy's back. A lucky shot. Boxy cried in pain and tumbled down, stunned for the time being. Danny didn't wait to go through their usual routine involving him taunting a bit as Boxy recovered and they started the chase again and Danny tried to make it clear to the older ghost that this was never going to end in his favor. No, this time Danny wanted to get back to where he needed to be quickly and efficiently without anyone seeing anything and telling his parents. He opened the Thermos and trapped the annoying, box obsessed pain in his rear until he returned to Amity and could release him to the Ghost Zone, where he would hopefully (but not likely) stay for at least a good couple of days before making Danny's life a mess again.

Danny spun around, reorienting himself to the massive dome he recognized from the Museum. He flew quickly and turned himself both intangible and invisible. Once back inside he landed, found a nice abandoned corner, and switched back to plain old Danny Fenton. All he had to do now was find Jazz. A piece of cake with a museum this small. It should only take him a few minutes and he could easily rule out the places they'd already been to.

* * *

The next few days were strange and confusing for Jim as the Fentons got weird. Sure, he'd noticed that they weren't exactly normal when they first arrived, but he had quickly adapted and simply chose to accept their little quirks of dress, discussion topics, and occupation. But that was just the elder Fentons. The parents. The kids were mostly normal. Now, Danny and Jazz were just plain suspicious. Danny was disappearing more and more often with Jazz always immediately monopolizing the time and attention of everyone she could. Danny would even disappear late into the night and was sluggish, tired, and irritable most days. Then there were the injuries he managed to hide from his parents, but Jim- and most likely Dr. Lake- noticed the stiffness in the way he moved or how he flinched when he bumped something wrong or the limp when he walked. Hell, there was one day when he suddenly went from being right handed to being left handed, and Danny's parents still didn't notice.

So, yeah, Jim didn't know what to think any more. Everything was just too weird. Especially on the days when he chose to actually spend time with them rather than trying to scout Trollmarket, which was going rather well.

They were fairly certain they had a good time and place to get at Gunmar, they just had to finalize and train everyone that was going and figure out how to actually get in contact with Phantom. As easy as the ghost had made it sound when he told Jim he was hanging out around the Fentons, Jim had no idea how to actually tell Phantom anything without anyone else noticing.

That isn't to say things hadn't quieted down since the mess in the museum, or even since the forest. Jazz and Danny showed pretty much no interest in trolls and Gunmar, even if Jazz did seem to have a frightening level of insight into Jim's mind. Outside of Danny's odd injuries and sleep schedule, everything went back to normal. Until the man in the suit with long grey hair showed up.

About a week after they'd first met Phantom, Jim, Toby, and Claire were spending some time relaxing and hanging out around town. Jim had been hoping to run into his cousins (because they actually were fun to hang around), so he could introduce everyone. That, of course, is when they first saw him. The older man seemed to be having a somewhat heated conversation with Danny. Well, Danny was getting heated, the man was just smirking down his nose at the youngest Fenton.

"Who's that?" Toby asked, noticing what had gotten Jim's attention.

"I don't know about the old guy, but the guy in the white and red shirt is my cousin, Danny," Jim answered with a small shrug. He didn't stop watching the… odd interaction. Last he'd heard Danny hadn't made any real connections in town, and that guy definitely wasn't local.

"How about we go say hi?" Claire suggested. She pulled Jim along, startling him out of his thoughts. Toby laughed at the pair and followed half a step behind.

Jim rolled his eyes as he got his footing back and began to lead his friends across the road into the park. As they approached, the older man's face went from the cool smirk to a cold glare, and the trio pulled to a stop a good distance away.

"You have made a mistake, Little Badger," the man growled.

"Yeah, you always say that," Danny said, rolling his eyes, "and, yet, we're still here. I picked my side."

Jim pulled his friends behind some trees and out of sight of the pair.

"You cannot go making decisions like that when you know nothing about the situation!"

"I know more than you think, Vlad."

"Do you really think a bunch of inexperienced children and their ragtag team will be able to defeat an entire army lead by a millennia old warlord? Really, Daniel?"

"I didn't think I needed to remind you of a certain inexperienced teen and his ragtag bunch of allies that didn't even qualify as a team that took down Pariah Dark. And I still seem to be doing pretty well against you." It was Danny's turn to smirk.

Vlad's face contorted for only a second before he managed to compose himself. "I go easy on you, Daniel. He will not. Just walk away. This is both foolish and unnecessary."

Danny shook his head. "You know I can't do that."

"Daniel-"

"Do you even know what will happen if we leave this alone? Best case scenario: they win. Worst case: they lose, and we lose everything. He wants to take over the world. You think he _won't_ wipe out humanity if he isn't stopped. That means Mom, too. I know you don't care about Sam or Tucker or anyone else, but you won't be able to save her. If not for your own good, do it for her."

Jim decided it was as good a time as any. He stepped through the trees and plastered the most convincing surprised look he could onto his face. "Oh, hey, Danny!" he said cheerily. Both men twitched and turned in synch to face Jim and the other two teens following him out of the trees. "I wasn't expecting to see you until dinner tonight. Who's this?"

The two traded a glance. "I will think about it," Vlad said. He turned to leave. "Perhaps I should stop by for a meal?"

"Fuck off, Vlad!" Danny yelled at his retreating back. He scowled and sighed as he turned back to face the trio.

"Seriously," Jim said, "who was that?"

Danny grunted and waved them off. "Someone from back home. We don't exactly get along and I wasn't expecting to see him here."

"Not getting along is an understatement," Claire muttered as she watched Vlad disappear around a corner.

"Yeah," Toby laughed, "you two were really going at it."

Danny shot them a confused look. Then, a look of understanding crossed his face. "You guys were watching, weren't you?"

Jim shrugged. "Guilty."

"Jim, remind me to work with you on your legal defense," Toby said. "We can't have you just admitting you're guilt whenever someone asks a question."

"No harm in this one, Tobes."

"And yet, the last time there was harm in admitting it, you still plead guilty."

"I'm just going to pretend I know nothing and heard nothing," Danny interrupted. The three gave him sheepish smiles. "What did you hear?"

"Nothing that made any sense," Toby answered for the group. "Does he have a thing for your mom or something?"

Danny winced. "Yeah. Let's just say that's one of the many reasons I don't like him. He also tends to think I take after my dad, which he really doesn't like."

"Ouch," Toby hissed in sympathy.

Jim laughed a little awkwardly. "I know the feeling. Maybe not quite the same way you do, but there was a guy I didn't like hitting on my mom a few months back. Real creep."

Danny smiled. "At least you managed to get rid of him from the sound of things. I always tell Vlad to just get a cat and leave my family alone. He wound up getting the cat but ignored the second part. Oh, and he named it after my mom, too."

Jim winced. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever need that line. But the name thing is extra creepy."

Danny nodded. "Anyway, what have you guys been up to?"

Jim shrugged. "We've been hanging out around town," Claire answered. "Saw you guys arguing from across the street and decided to come say hi."

Danny body shook as a shiver wracked his frame. His mouth opened with a barely audible gasp and Jim could almost swear he saw a puff of condensation escape Danny's mouth. Danny's back straightened. "Well, uh, I'll see you around. Bye!" Danny dashed off, head turning to scan the surroundings as he left.

"Um, yeah…" Jim trailed off. "That was odd."

"Uh-huh," Toby grunted. "Hey, let's go check out the theater. That movie you wanted to see came out a couple of weeks ago."

"The one about the family with the weird kid?" Claire asked.

Jim rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Yeah. It's called _The Storm's Prince_ ," he said. "It's supposed to be pretty good."

"Whatever you say, Jimbo. At least it's not about cooking this time," Toby teased. He turned to Claire. "I still remember when he dragged me off to see… what was it? _Julie and Julia_? Yeah, that's it."

Jim laughed. "Hey, I like what I like."

Claire laughed with him. "That's fair. C'mon, we still have the rest of the day, we should go see that movie while we still can."

The three young warriors set off, carefully not thinking about the different ways that sentence could be interpreted.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny really hated Vlad right now. Sure, he always hated the crazed froot loop, but the man had infringed on his family's vacation and brought all of Danny's ghostly problems with him. He had hoped that Box Ghost had been a fluke, but after the third attack, he knew something was up. Now that Vlad had decided to reveal himself, Danny knew exactly who was to blame. Add to that the conceited bastard decided to get all high and mighty and disapprove of Danny's choices despite the fact that everyone they knew benefited from helping out Jim and his friends.

He was fairly sure it would, anyway. Assuming he got everything right. Which he probably had. Hopefully.

Regardless, Danny was still nursing several wounds from his most recent fights, struggling to keep himself awake, and glaring at Vlad from across the table only a day after the man had tried to talk him into abandoning the latest fight. More accurately, Danny was trying his hardest not to glare or let his eyes glow because Dr. Lake was much, _much_ more observant than his parents were while Vlad chatted up everyone else at the table.

"So, James, what do you do in your spare time?" Vlad asked.

Danny forced his body to remain relaxed. Judging by the odd look Jim and Dr. Lake briefly gave him, he did not, in fact, remain relaxed.

"I mostly hang out with my friends around town," Jim answered, "and I cook."

"Jim spends more time than he should helping me around the house, really," Dr. Lake said. "Not, that I'm not grateful. I don't know what I'd do without his cooking." She laughed.

"Really?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "What were you expecting, Vlad? Some grand tale of adventure?"

Vlad scowled at him. "You never know what hobbies someone has, Little Badger. Cooking is hardly a normal pass time for a boy your age but certainly an admirable one. For another example, I do believe I know of a young boy that devotes a large portion of his time to swordplay."

Danny pointedly went back to picking at his food.

Vlad turned his attention back to Jim. "And what of your friends? Tell me about them."

Jim looked confused at the line of questioning, but after a quick glance at Danny, answered anyway. "Toby's been my friend for about as long as I can remember. I met Claire while we were doing Romeo and Juliet for the school play." Jim shrugged. "Beyond that… they're great people and a lot of fun to hang around."

"You met Claire, through the school play?"

"Yeah."

"They were the leads," Dr. Lake said, a proud smile tugging at her lips. "I swear it wasn't all just acting up on that stage either."

Jim blushed wildly. "Mom…"

Dr. Lake laughed at him. "You know I'm right," she teased. "You had a crush on her long before the play and it's not like you showed much interest in acting or Shakespeare before. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried out for her."

Jim went even redder and sputtered before ducking his head back down to his plate. The adults all shared a small laugh at Jim's expense.

"In all seriousness, though," Vlad said, a smile still pulling up the corners of his lips, "tell me about your extracurriculars."

Jim shrugged. "Beyond the play, we mostly just keep to ourselves."

"Then surely you have some interesting stories to tell, hm?"

"C'mon, Vlad," Danny interrupted. "Just because he doesn't spend all his time in a club or sport or something doesn't mean he's got any stories for you."

Vlad glared at Jim. "There was that one time you three decided to take Señor Uhl's truck for a joy ride in the middle of the night," Barbara said before Vlad could even open his mouth. Jim stilled for a second before shifting awkwardly in his seat, his blush rapidly disappearing as he paled.

"Not much of a story to it," he said, keeping his head down. "Just a bunch of teenagers doing stupid teenager things."

Dr. Lake smiled at her clearly embarrassed son. "There has to at least be some story to it. How did you guys decided you were going to steal someone's car? How did you even manage to steal it? I'm pretty sure none of you know how to hot wire anything."

"I'd rather not talk about it," Jim said. "And I built the Vespa from spare parts. Hot wiring a car wouldn't be that difficult."

"You built that Vespa yourself?" Maddy asked, sounding impressed. "You must be rather talented."

Jim smiled, relaxing now that they weren't talking about the disastrous night with the rogue gnomes. "It's nothing much, really."

"Mechanics like that aren't easy if you don't have someone to teach you," Jack said. "You must be pretty smart. Bet you do well at school, too."

Jim shrugged. "I do alright."

"What about after high school?" Vlad asked, taking control of the conversation again. "What do you plan to do with your life. I assume you'll be going to college or at least a trade school, but where and for what?"

Jim paused again. "I- I don't know," he finally said. Danny and Jazz suppressed twin winces. Even if Danny didn't really believe he would be able to leave Amity Park to go to college, if he lived that long, he still had a plan he could rattle off if anyone asked. Kept them from trying to figure out why he didn't plan on going to college. "I guess I'd want to go to a culinary school or something." He shrugged. "Cooking was always really my thing. Guess I just never really thought about it."

Danny forced a laugh. "You've still got time," he said. "Not everyone can be like Jazz and have their life planned out before the even get to high school, after all."

Jazz only had a second to glare at Danny before schooling her face back into a kind expression and turning back to Jim. "While Danny is right, you should probably start thinking about it and figuring out what schools will work best for you and what your budget will look like."

Jim nodded absently, long since lost in his thoughts. Danny couldn't really hide the wince this time. He had no doubt Jim was only just realizing how difficult it would be, if not completely impossible, for him to balance his night work with college, especially if he left Arcadia. And Arcadia definitely didn't have any culinary schools nearby.

"Well, I have no doubt you'd do well in the culinary field," Vlad smiled. "The dinner was absolutely delightful. Unfortunately, however, I must take my leave. You know how it is, so much work and so little time."

"Really? You're leaving so soon?" Barbara asked.

"Yes." Vlad stood and smoothed out his suit. "I have a meeting to attend early in the morning tomorrow and, well, I'm hoping to turn in early to make getting up a little easier on me."

Barbara nodded and stood. The rest of the family rose as well. The teens began clearing off the table while their parents walked Vlad to the door. "It was nice of you to visit, Mr. Masters," Barbara said.

"Oh, I should be thanking you and your son, Dr. Lake," Vlad said. "After all, you hosted, and the food was truly divine. James really would do well with his skills. I'd even be willing to help pay for his tuition."

Barbara's jaw dropped, and it took her several moments to pull herself back together while Vlad chuckled. "What!?" she finally choked out. "You'd do that? For us!?"

Vlad grinned at her. "Of course," he said. "A boy as talented as James deserves to live his dream without needing to worry about the financial strain. I already have funds set up for both Daniel and Jasmine, should they choose to use them."

"Should they choose to?" Maddy asked, frowning at Vlad.

Vlad waved a hand dismissively. "I have no doubt I'll be covering Jasmines education, seeing as she has her path chosen and it isn't cheap, but I intend to leave whether or not they accept the money up to them, and Daniel… he doesn't like me much. He may very well turn the money down out of spite. Assuming he goes to college at all."

Jack laughed, loud and booming through the house. "Nonsense," he said, slapping Vlad on the back and missing the man's glower, "Danny likes you just fine."

The two women of the group gave Jack and odd look, but Maddie spoke before Barbara could say anything on the matter. "Of course Danny's going to college," she said. "He wants to be an astronaut."

Vlad gave Maddie and almost pitying look. "With his grades, my dear? He'll be hard pressed to get his life back on track enough to even be eligible for the program, and I'm pretty sure he knows it. He did spend years calculating his odds and trying his best to prepare himself for the task."

"I'm sure he'll figure something out," Barbara said, trying to reassure her cousins.

Maddie nodded.

"Well, I'd best be on my way," Vlad said, finally stepping away from the door and down the porch steps to his car. "I shall see you when we return to Amity Park," he said with one final wave to the Fentons.

"Bye, Vladdie!" Jack called after him. Maddie gave a smaller wave behind him, watching their old "friend" disappear into the night.

* * *

Jim had a lot to think about. The whole college thing had really thrown him for a loop. But the really important thing was how interested Vlad Masters was in him. He assumed it was because was just the usual interest adults showed in people his age and their "plans," but that just didn't sit right. Something about it just rubbed him the wrong way. The only thing he could put his finger on was how closely Danny had watched the exchange, like he knew something important. Like he thought one of them was a threat. And given who was asking the questions and what Jim knew of Danny's relationship with Vlad… Jim didn't like it.

"Hey, Danny," Jim said as he prepared for his nightly excursion and Danny prepared for bed, "you seemed a little… I don't know, concerned? About Master's questions?"

Danny stared for a moment, then nodded, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "He's a manipulative bastard. If he's interested in you, it's not out of the kindness of his heart." Danny paused for a moment. "Although, I suppose he does have to put on a show of carrying when he doesn't sometimes, but I don't think he was doing it now."

"Why's that?"

Danny shrugged. "You're related to my family, however distantly. Even if he doesn't plan on doing anything any time soon involving you, he still needs to keep track of our relations." Jim nodded and turned back to his preparations. "Just… be careful out there tonight," Danny said quietly. "I don't want to find out he had more than a passing interest the hard way."

Jim glanced over his shoulder and nodded. He opened the window and left into the night once more.

Danny lay down on his makeshift bed and sighed, rubbing his hands into his eyes. The past week had been long and hard, and he hoped he could get an actual night of rest and that Jim and his friends were almost ready. They were running out of time. For now, though, he would sleep until he was awoken by either his ghost sense or the sound of breakfast on the table.

* * *

Danny groaned quietly as he sat up, cold still chilling him to the bone and forcing a shiver up his spine. He couldn't get one quiet night even when he was supposed to be on vacation. He stood up and skipped changing into day clothes and simply tapped into his core, becoming Danny Phantom, and floated into the air and out of the house.

Danny wasn't paying nearly as much attention as he should have as he flew through the air trying to find the ghost that had woken him up. Mostly because this was the fourth night in a row that he'd been woken up like this and the last two kept him up for between four and five hours each, so he was more than a little tired and done with this whole mess.

Which is why he didn't notice the ghost he was trying to find until he was attacked. More specifically, Plasmius hit him with a low level ectoblast. Strong enough to sting and get Danny's attention, but not to do any real damage.

Danny tumbled for a moment before righting himself over the forest and shouting up to the familiar spiky haired and caped figure of his enemy, "What the hell, Vlad!?"

"Oh, relax, Daniel," the old man grinned. "It was only a small blast. You'll be fine."

"It's the principle. You shot me in the back, but I will admit that's par for the course with a froot loop like you."

"Please, it's not like we haven't had the good times along with the bad."

"I don't remember any good times. Hey! You certainly weren't hitting on Mom as much as you usually do. Did you finally get that cat?"

"I've had Maddie for a while now, and you and I both know I had more important things to worry about."

"Yeah," Danny muttered as he lit his fist with green light, "like my fist." He flew forward, aiming for Vlad's jaw.

Vlad turned out of the way, letting Danny fly past. "Now, now, Daniel, that wasn't very polite. Don't you want to know what I think of your new friends?"

Danny scowled and launched and ectoblast. Vlad calmly blocked it with a small pink shield. "Not really," Danny snapped. "I don't care what you think so long as you aren't helping Gunmar."

"Well, I guess you're in luck," Vlad's voice hissed in Danny's ear. Danny jerked and tried to spin to face his opponent, but Vlad's hands twisted his arm behind his back in a firm grip and held him still. The Vlad in front of him vanished.

"What do you want, Vlad?" Danny said, gritting his teeth.

"Only to update you, Little Badger," his voice was so quiet Danny could barely hear him even with Vlad's mouth right next to his ear. "You were right for once. Gunmar's plans don't suit my goals."

Danny growled, his hand lighting up blue and a blast of ice encased the side of Vlad's chest, forcing him back and off Danny. Danny spun quickly as soon as he was released, lifting his foot and driving it into Vlad's jaw. "What're you going to do about it?" he said, still glaring at the older ghost who, for the most part, only looked a little ruffled as the ice broke off in chunks and fell to the ground below. "Going to just run off and ignore the problem? Leave me to clean it up like you always do? Or are you going to try and make me stop? Kidnap me and hide me away until the fighting's done? Or, hey, here's a good one, maybe you're going to pretend none of this is even happening and just go back to flirting with my mom."

"Daniel…" Vlad growled.

"What the heck?"


	7. Chapter 7

Jim was tired of the constant trips out to the forest. The planning and training. The tension as they all waited for Gunmar to attack. He wanted it to be over, but he knew he had to wait until everything was in place. He knew they needed an actual plan. He couldn't just charge in and fight this by himself. He'd just get himself killed and the Amulet destroyed. Either way, they had a plan now and he just needed to find a way to tell Phantom to be ready and meet up with them in a few days.

"Cheer up, Jim," Claire said, nudging him with her shoulder. As they made the daily trip back out of the woods to their nice comfy beds.

"Yeah, man," Toby said, joining the conversation, "we're this close to beating Gunmar and you look like you're still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Jim shrugged, smiling softly at his friends' attempts to cheer him up. "Just nervous, I guess. I don't know how to get Phantom's attention and tell him the plan without everyone else noticing as well. And, you know, we could still lose."

"A very good observation, Master Jim," Blinky said, startling them. They had forgotten he chose to walk with them tonight, instead of overseeing the camp. "There are still many things that could go wrong, but we have planned as much as we can and are in the best position we will be for a long time. We must take advantage of it."

"Yeah, I know," Jim said, "but I'm still nervous."

"Rule number one, Master Jim. Rule number one."

"Always be afraid," the three teens parroted back to him.

"Indeed. Now more than ever, you must be on your toes and ready for the worst."

Silence fell over the group again, and they walked peacefully between the trees.

As they approached the edge, Blinky's ears twitched, hearing something the young humans couldn't and that he couldn't quite make out. He gestured for them to slow, and move quietly, alert for potential attackers. He listened closely and lead them even closer to the edge of the woods as sounds of combat reached him.

"What are you going to do about it?" a young voice asked, angry and defensive. Jim frowned, confused. That… sounded a bit like Danny. His cousin Danny, not the ghost. It did have an odd quality to it that didn't seem quite right either, but it was definitely his cousin. But what was- "Going to just run off and ignore the problem?" That didn't sound right. "Leave me to clean it up like you always do?" What- "Or are you going to try and make my stop? Kidnap me and hide me away until the fighting's done?" The four Trollhunters exchanged a worried look as they edged forward. Just at the edge of the trees, they saw nothing. On a hunch, Jim looked up. "Or, hey, here's a good one, maybe you're going to pretend none of this is even happening and just go back to flirting with my mom."

Floating above them was Phantom, glaring at another ghost with a white suit and flowing cape. His skin, unlike Phantom's, was a pale blue and his eyes a solid red visible even from this distance. The other ghost was glaring at Phantom, too. "Daniel…" he growled.

"What the heck?" Jim said much louder than he intended (which wasn't hard considering he hadn't meant to say it out loud at all). This didn't make sense. The voices. He could have sworn it sounded like Vlad and Danny arguing again, especially with the flirting comment. But everything else… Danny wasn't fighting anything here. It could only be Phantom, and Phantom was a ghost. Dead. Danny was alive. How could the two- no, four- sound so similar? Not just in the voices themselves, but in how they talked to each other.

Both ghosts swiveled to look at the small party at the edge of the woods.

"Ah, your new friends," the blue ghost said, a gloating smile crossing his face.

"Plasmius…" Phantom warned.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt them."

"Pardon the intrusion," Blinky interrupted, taking step out from under the cover of the trees with two of his hands clasped behind his back while another rested at his side and the last held his staff- Vendel's staff, "but who are you? I was aware of Phantom, but not you." He pointed at the blue ghost with his staff.

The ghost puffed out his chested and swooped a little closer. "I am Vlad Plasmius," he said, pride dripping from him.

"He's a froot loop, is what he is," Phantom grumbled just loud enough for them to hear him.

Plasmius seemed to stiffen for a fraction of a second before his easy demeanor returned. "He does have quite the sense of humor," he said as he flashed a grin with a few too many teeth at the younger ghost. Jim was sure he'd seen fangs. "I came to this little town of yours because I'd heard of your problems and just had to come investigate. This will affect us all, you understand, so I had to be sure the right side would win. For the best interests of my people."

"Your people?" Toby blurted. "There's more of you?"

Jim nodded. "The Fentons talk about all kinds of ghosts, although most of them aren't very friendly or civic minded," he said before Plasmius could continue.

"Yeah," Phantom continued, a small grin on his face as he glared at Plasmius's back, "they call him the Wisconsin Ghost. I'm sure you remember those stories," he switched his gaze to Jim for a moment.

Jim shrugged. "Given what they think of you, I'm inclined to take their opinions with a grain of salt."

Phantom frowned. "I'm glad you're reasonable," Plasmius said. He was still grinning, and Jim thought it looked a bit predatory. "The Fentons are more than a little prejudiced against us ghosts all because of a few trouble makers that like to have a little fun in Amity Park."

Phantom was back to glaring at Plasmius. "It's more than just a few, and they aren't just having 'a little fun.' They'd destroy the town if I let them, and don't pretend you haven't done your share of the damages."

"As have you, Little B- Phantom."

"I at least try and keep it to a minimum. You like making my, eh, _afterlife_ as hard as physically possible and if that means breaking things to ruin my reputation, you are not above that."

Plasmius shrugged. "All's fair in love and war, but let's get back to the point," he disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. "You-" his voice was right next to them. All four jumped. Claire and Toby had their weapons out in barely a heartbeat, while Blinky flailed for a second before holding his staff ready. Jim held the amulet, his center of gravity low. "-are fighting a war that affects us all, and I have come to the conclusion that it is in our best interest if you win, so I would like to offer my services to use as you see fit."

The Trollhunters blinked at each other. He was… intimidating and seemed more than a little… predatory, but he was on their side… apparently? "Well, that's a first," Phantom grumbled as he floated down to the group. "You sure you don't want to just-"

"I can acknowledge when I am out of my depth. They are the experts right now, and I will defer to them."

Phantom was still staring at Plasmius like he had been replaced by some kind of body snatching alien.

Jim glanced at his friends, who shrugged at him, then turned back to Plasmius. "I'm not sure-"

"I have a similar power set to Phantom and significantly more strength, experience, and skill," Plasmius interrupted, "and, from the looks of things, you need all the help you can get."

"He's not wrong," Claire whispered.

"Yeah," Toby answered, "but I get the feeling Phantom doesn't like him for a reason. And can we really afford to have them working together?"

"Can we afford to not accept his help?" Blinky countered. "As Claire said, he's not wrong. We are already on thin ice with our plan utilizing Phantom, more fighters would not be a bad thing."

Jim watched the two ghosts. Phantom was keeping half an eye on Plasmius, ready to fight if he needed to. Plasmius was ignoring the younger ghost and looked so calm and collected that Jim wasn't sure he even cared about the younger ghost's hostility. His smile still looked a bit threatening as well. "Phantom, do you have a way of contacting him?"

"If I leave without an answer tonight," Plasmius said before Phantom could do more than open his mouth, "I intend to leave town post haste."

Phantom scowled and snorted, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, right."

"Do not test me, Phantom. I will abandon this cause if they do not deal with me directly."

Phantom shook his head, then looked at Jim and nodded. Plasmius was serious.

Jim sighed. He needed to talk to Phantom anyway. This at least solved the problem of talking to him without the rest of the family noticing. "We're planning on attacking in three days. We'll meet back here at…" he turned to Blinky.

Taking his cue, Blinky stepped forward. "Meet here at 6:30 Thursday evening. We will go over our plan, and, hopefully, head out to begin our assault at between 7:00 and 7:15."

The ghosts nodded, and Plasmius vanished. Phantom stayed, waiting silently, his eyes unfocused on some middle distance. The four Trollhunters waited. A moment later Phantom glanced around and nodded to himself before turning back to the others. "He should be gone by now. I hope he's gone by now. He should have better things to do than hanging out and spying on us." Phantom frowned in thought. "Maybe. Hopefully. Point is, he's a dick, but if he's telling the truth about wanting to help us, he's going to be extremely helpful."

"Can you work with him?" Jim smiled. Claire was cutting straight to the point.

Phantom nodded. "It won't be the first time we've fought beside each other, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch your back. Plasmius doesn't do anything that doesn't benefit him. In my opinion, helping you does benefit him on its own, but he usually doesn't include that. He'll be trying to get something more out of this whether he actually wants you to win or not, and if it looks like we're going to lose, he is going to try and save his own skin."

"Thank you, for the warning," Blinky said.

Phantom nodded. "I'll do what I can to keep him from hurting anyone on our side, but…" Phantom shrugged. "He wasn't kidding when he said he was better than me."

"How-"

Phantom cut Claire off quickly, "Twenty years of experience and all the power that comes with it. He's a strategist and he knows his powers a lot better than I do. The only reason I ever stand a chance against him is because he doesn't usually want to hurt me, and I've learned to aim for disrupting his plans rather than trying to actually fight him."

"Is there anything that can be done about this potential threat?" Blinky spoke.

Phantom hesitated, then shook his head. "You could try and get some Fenton tech, but he knows how to deal with it well enough that it won't help you much. Just keep an eye on him and don't give him a reason, I guess." He shrugged. "Nothing else for it. So, uh, I'll see you guys in a few days?"

The group nodded and mumbled their goodbyes as Phantom vanished. Silence filled the air and they let it settle in them with the wind wrapping around them as they processed the new information.

"That whole thing had some kinda déjà vu to it," Claire finally said.

Toby nodded along next to her. "Yeah, man. I don't know what it was, but that felt really familiar."

Jim hummed slightly, his eyes drifting up to where the two ghosts had been fighting when he first saw them. "They sounded like Danny and Masters," he muttered. "But, you know, with more fighting and threats. Not that Danny and Masters wouldn't. After seeing them forced to share a dinner table, I get the feeling those two just hide the more violent aspects of what they want to say and do for the sake of appearances."

"I wonder if there's any relation between them," Blinky mused out loud as one of his free hands came up to rub at his chin and his eyes shifted to focus on some middle ground.

Toby snorted. "Really, Blink? They're ghosts. Dead. What connections could they have to two very living human beings?"

"With all the magic and craziness in our lives, Toby?" Claire said. "I don't think we can rule anything out."

"Quite right, Claire," Blinky praised as he moved into teacher mode. "Just because we do not know how does not make it impossible. Although, Tobias does raise an excellent point as well. Just because they are similar does not make them related. Either way, this is a matter for some other time, when we are not worrying ourselves over the rise and, hopefully, fall of warlords."

Jim nodded and turned back to his friends. "You're right, Blink. C'mon, guys, let's get home and get some sleep. We're gonna need it."


	8. Chapter 8

The fight went… about as well as they could have expected. There were casualties, of course. It's war. People die. There were twists and turns as the battle shifted from one side to another, each group countering unforeseen obstacles and counters only to counter themselves a moment later. It lasted, over all, most of the night.

There were injuries as well, of course. Some only had minor wounds, while others were going to be permanently crippled and a small handful were still in critical condition and no one was sure how they would fair for now. Plasmius got out with barely a scratch on him and Phantom's arm looked like it was badly injured and the way he moved told Blinky that he had likely taken a bad blow to the side. (Did ghosts have ribs to break? Blinky decided that wasn't really his business right now.) Jim was also fairly well off. Hurting, yes, but most of it was bruising that would fade over time or the mild concussion from being thrown into walls. Claire and Toby were… surprisingly unharmed. Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Draal had been convinced one of them would be going to the human hospital by the end of the night. They had made very nice targets given how weak their fleshy bodies were in comparison to how much damage they could do. (Glass cannons, Blinky had called them, borrowing the term from human role play games.) Add to that how much the pair meant to Jim and they were very tempting targets.

The hours immediately following the fight were just as chaotic as the fight itself, if they were being honest with themselves. Clearing out and capturing the last of Gunmar's actual supporters. Treating the injured. Collecting, counting, and sorting the dead. Moving the civilians back to Trollmarket. Starting clean up and repairs. Phantom stuck around to help, brushing off every attempt to get him to rest or let a healer patch him up. They would have argued more with him, but they were mostly concerned with tending to those much worse off and making sure Jim didn't actually hurt himself trying to help rebuild when he should be resting. Claire and Toby were a great help and Plasmius… he disappeared shortly after everyone felt safe enough to say it was over.

The teens didn't leave until the sun was nearly up.

And then… well, then all four of them slept the day away. (Not that the Trollhunters were aware of the fact that Phantom slept all that day, or even slept at all. Or that he had had his wounds tended to by one Jasmine Fenton before collapsing to bed. Jim hadn't even had time to notice the empty sleeping bag on his floor before passing out.)

The next few days were… quiet. Or they seemed that way to an outsider. Jim, Claire, and Toby disappeared every day to go help with the rebuilding of Trollmarket and didn't have time to keep an eye on Danny and Jazz. It wasn't until the night before the Fenton's were due to leave, when Barbara pulled her son aside, that anything seemed wrong.

"What happened to Danny?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"What are you talking about?" Jim replied, honestly confused. He'd been so busy lately that his cousin had been the last thing on his mind.

Barbara did not look impressed. "He got hurt, Jim. And I know he was spending time with you. My cousin might be oblivious, but I know how to spot injuries like that." Jim only blinked at her. "His shoulder is pretty sore, probably dislocated it, but at least it was set back in place, so that's healing just fine, but he also acts like he cracked some ribs. So spill, what happened?"

When could Danny have hurt himself that badly? How were Mr. and Mrs. Fenton not noticing? "When did that happen?"

Now his mother looked a little concerned. "Given what I've seen, it was the night you two stayed out so late. You both spent the entire day asleep."

That… Jim had hoped she wouldn't notice that. But Danny had slept, too? What was he doing out that night? "I really don't know what happened," he finally said. "I mean, yeah, I went out," no use hiding that, "but Danny wasn't with me. I don't know what he was doing."

Barbara didn't look like she believed him but decided not to push it anyway. If Jim didn't want to say anything, he wasn't going to. "Well, not much I can do about it anyway. Just try and make sure he actually gets some rest, so his ribs can heal."

Jim nodded, agreed, and retreated to his room. Once there he found himself standing in the doorway watching Danny putt about the room, packing and searching for random items that may have gotten interspersed with Jim's. Jim's mom was right ( _Of course she was, she's a doctor_ ), Danny's movements were stiff, and he was favoring his left. The same side Phantom had been hurt on during the final battle against Gunmar.

Jim stepped inside, not taking his eyes off his cousin, and closed the door. Danny's gaze flicked up to Jim for a moment as he placed another item in his bag. Then he paused, and looked back at Jim, frowning. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Jim frowned in return as he leaned against the wall. "What do you mean?"

"You've got this look on your face. Like I'm the most interesting thing in town and you don't know why."

Jim blinked at him. He hadn't realized he had been making any kind of face, much less that one. What even did that face look like? Might as well get to the point. "What's your connection to Phantom?"

Danny almost froze. Almost. For a fraction of a second his muscles seized, and then he was back in motion, laughing off Jim's accusation. "Phantom? He fights the other ghosts in Amity. My parents hunt him. What makes you think I've got anything to do with him?"

Jim shrugged. "You're favoring your left."

Danny glanced down at his left side, then back up at Jim. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You talk the same."

"Probably an Amity thing."

"You have the same name."

"Phantom and Danny?"

"Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom. It's practically a pun."

"Sounds like you think I am Phantom."

Jim looked a bit closer, thinking. Is that what he thought? That wasn't even possible. But now that Danny mentioned it… "You have the same face."

Danny seemed to be panicking now. If Jim weren't used to reading the body language of changelings and trolls, he might have missed the way Danny had gone too still and how he had almost stopped blinking entirely, waiting for something. "No, we don't."

Jim snorted. "He's practically a recolor of you. Or you're a recolor of him. Everything else is the same." And it was, too. The same shape to his brow. His nose. The curve of his mouth and chin.

"He's a ghost. He's dead. That's not possible."

Jim shrugged. "And trolls aren't real. And you aren't hurt. And you have definitely kept packing while we've been talking about how it's completely impossible for you to be Phantom."

Danny glanced at his half packed bag, then back at Jim. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Jim said as he knelt next to Danny and picked up a pair of Danny's pants to hand to him, "there's a thing with the human brain where it can't process telling a lie and doing mundane tasks at the same time. You stopped packing." Danny still hadn't taken the pants yet. "And you reacted to that rather than the implications about trolls or the injuries."

Danny finally took the pants. "And what are you going to do about it."

Jim shrugged. "Nothing. We've both got our secrets."

Danny's shoulders slumped, and he relaxed. "Thanks."

"I should be thanking you. I don't know how long we would have had to try and keep up like that without you. You saved a lot of lives."

Danny shrugged at him. "Jazz says I have a hero complex. I'm not so sure I buy it."

"Jazz knows?"

"Yeah. I've got a few others back home to. Like you and your friends."

Jim nodded. He could see that. Understand it. It was impossible to live this kind of life alone, especially at their age. "Stay in touch," he said, finally as Danny finished packing and someone yelled up the stairs at them. It was time for the Fenton's to leave.

Danny grinned at him. "Will do. And if you've got any ghostly problems around here, you know who to call."

"The ghost busters?" Jim teased with a grin. Danny groaned and shoved his shoulder. They called for him again.

Danny hefted his bag up. "I've gotta go. See- well, I'll text."

Jim nodded. "Text you later."

Danny walked to the door. At the last second Jim remembered something. "Hey," he said, "one last thing."

"Yeah?"

The door was still shut. "If you're Phantom. Is Plasmius Masters?"

Danny hesitated, eyeing Jim and weighing his options, which was answer enough. "Whatever you do, don't act on that. We have a bit of a stalemate going. An understanding. I say nothing, and he says nothing."

"Why-"

"There are people out there that would love to get their hands on us. To see what makes us tick. It would only take a few words here or there to make the other disappear."

Jim nodded again. "Gotcha. My lips are sealed. You'd better get going."

Danny nodded, opened the door, and was gone.

* * *

 **Well, that's that for _What Cousins Do_. A big thank you to everyone for all of the love and support you've provided over the course of the fic.**

 _ **Loose**_ ** _Lips_ will continue as scheduled, and in this fics slot I will be posting some one shots and other little things until I run out of stuff. If you have suggestions, feel free to put it in comments or PM me. You can also hit me up on Tumblr, I use the same username across accounts.**

 **Until next time,**

 **NoS**


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